


May I Witness Open-Eyed

by CupidStrikes



Series: Keith Week 2016 [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Keithweek, Maybe Sheithy if you squint and tilt your head
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-17 10:08:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8140139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CupidStrikes/pseuds/CupidStrikes
Summary: Keith has never had a space that was truly his own.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Keith Week
> 
> September 26th: Galaxy Garrison | Anger
> 
> Lyrics in italic are from Where There Is Light by VNVNation.

September 26th: Galaxy Garrison | Anger  
  
**May I Witness Open-Eyed**  
  
_The greatest words_  
_Would still fail me now_  
  
Keith has never had a space that was truly his own. He must have once, but he remembers that time as if seeing it through cotton wool. Fuzzy. Colours saturated and bleeding all into one. Since then it has been a long string of foster home; bunk beds, never fewer than three children to a room, and even now he's legally an adult and his accommodation costs money, he still finds himself with two room mates. The Galaxy Garrison has only a handful of single rooms, and they are reserved for only the best of the best.  
  
So Keith spends most of his time in Shiro's room and pointedly ignoring his designated room mates when he's forced to share the same air with them.  
  
When they first find the shack it is by pure chance alone.  
  
The arse end of some month-long survival task and Keith spots the dark shape in the distance. It's past the Galaxy Garrison-controlled perimeter but snapping the tracking bracelet in half solves that problem and Keith walks right through. Breaking it will bring the seniors running, but Keith has just enough time to check it out before they will catch up.  
  
The shack is just that – derelict and when Keith peers through the nearest window, he can see only the broken remains of a chair, piles of sand, and faded graffiti on the walls. He's back within the marked perimeter when the first officer turns up, and he cites a fall as he silently promises himself he'll be back.  
  
It's harder to find in the dark, even on his hover bike, but he finds it eventually and marks it down on his navigator. He barely makes it back for morning class, and when he catches Shiro staring at the dark smudges beneath his eyes over the cafeteria, he's not sure it'll remain a secret for long.  
Thing is, as much as Shiro is a by-the-book straight-A student, he can keep a secret. Especially where Keith is concerned. Shiro had helped Keith fix up the old bike that had been standing behind the outdoor equipment shed since before Shiro had enrolled. And in turn, Keith took Shiro to the shack in the desert as soon as they both had a free weekend.  
  
Keith tries the front door and it falls right off its hinges, the wood splitting and a shock-wave of dust floats away as it hits the floor. Somewhere they hear the telltale scratching of rodents fleeing the noise and light.  
  
There is no registered owner so they help themselves. It takes the best part of a month and the pooled efforts of odd jobs and Keith's leftover scholarship money to buy the supplies. Neither of them has any experience in home improvements, but they're both well-versed in fixing things, and making do, in Keith's case, and things come together imperfectly, but well enough.  
  
Most of the furniture in the place is a write-off and Shiro never does tell Keith where the replacements come from. They're just there one day when Keith arrives later than Shiro, and the older man just laughs and says he was owed a favour when he asks. The paint and other fixings come from various supply cupboards and the place is waiting-room plain until Shiro tacks up every single aircraft and space-themed poster he can lay his hands on, and they've both used up every penny of their printer credit before they're satisfied.  
  
Shiro installs the locks and reinforced glass windows and they fall asleep on the old beaten up sofa that night.  
  
In the morning they paint the front door and Shiro smears red paint over Keith's forehead and calls him Simba for the rest of the day until Keith tackles him and traces a line of red over his right eye and solemnly swears that he will throw him to a pack of hyenas.  
  
They finish it with just a month to spare before Shiro leaves for the two-year long excursion to Kerberos. They sit on the threadbare rug in the centre of the main room, knees knocking together as they share a thermos of coffee and watch the stars visible from the window. There is electricity from an old generator Shiro has hooked up, but no heating aside from each other.  
  
“To think, this place was really dark and shitty when we first found it and now look at it.”  
  
Keith gestures and looks at Shiro to find dark eyes already watching him.  
  
“Hm, it's a fixer-upper. Like you were.”  
  
Keith gives Shiro a playful shove, and Shiro laughs even as he holds the tin lid of coffee up and away to avoid it being spilled.  
  
“Sorry, still are.”  
  
Shiro is grinning and Keith is trying hard not to return it. Outside the moon reaches its zenith and they move closer to the window to track its descent until it tucks itself above the star-like twinkling of the lights from the Galaxy Garrison and they watch the dawn come in together.  
  
They are miles from the nearest point of civilisation, but here with Shiro and their little fixer-upper around them, Keith has never felt more at home.

  
_I want to be where_  
_I don’t need to hide myself_  
_And remain there_  
_Until the end of time._


End file.
